The present invention relates to a radiation filter and, more particularly, to a radiation filter used in conjunction with eyewear.
Currently, most laser eye protection includes either safety glasses, goggles, or clip in glass filters that clamp onto existing eyewear. Goggles do not work with magnification loupes or telescopes or eyewear mounted light sources and are difficult to use with prescription glasses. Safety glasses cannot be effectively used in conjunction with regular eyewear. The clip on glass filter inserts utilizes metal clamps and springs and mounts on the front of the user's eyewear. This clip on glass filter is not useable for eyewear with curved frames (currently more popular than straight frames) or with magnification telescopes which traverse through the lenses of the eyewear. Other glass filters available mount on the inside of the user's eyewear. This may enable use with “through the lens telescopes” but the glass filters most likely impinge upon these telescopes. These clip in filters rely on a complicated clip on, clip off mechanism of metal clamps to affix them and they have no specific “handles” to aid in their manipulation. This creates several significant problems in that the user (a dentist, for example) upon requiring the use of the filtering device, must remove used gloves, remove the eyewear from the face, and use both hands to affix the filtering device. The user must then reposition the eyewear on the face and re-glove before continuing with his/her procedure. Upon finishing the procedure that required the filtering device, he/she must again remove the used gloves, remove the eyewear, use both hands to remove the filtering device from the eyewear, replace the eyewear back on the face, and then again re-glove in order to continue treatment. This is very cumbersome and time consuming as well as requiring the practitioner to spend more money for consumable supplies such as gloves, while creating a fogging effect for many practitioners. Less conscientious practitioners may be inclined to bypass the steps of removing and replacing gloves twice; which would be unhygienic and lead to the additional problem of risk of infectious cross-contamination. Furthermore, these glass inserts with clamps are awkward to disinfect. Additional disadvantages of the clip in filter inserts are that they are heavy, expensive, prone to fogging, and do not fully surround and protect the eyes from stray laser flashes which could lead to eye damage.
As can be seen, there is a need for a less expensive, easier to use, lighter weight no fog radiation filtering device or insert that prevents potential eye damage when working with instruments that emit radiation.